Taking for granted
by Faberrittanainthetardis
Summary: Paige goes out of town for a week or two to visit some colleges. Emily and Spencer feel her abscence more than they thought they would and come to the conclusion that that take her for granted. Spaily fic i.e. Spencer/Paige/Emily. Kind of a spinoff from my Paily fic, 'schedule', just in terms of the Hanna/Paige/Aria friendship which plays a minor part in this fic.


"Spencer?" Emily called as she walked into the kitchen, her arms wrapped around her own hoodie clad torso. She found Spencer staring into an open cupboard, an irritated expression adorning her features. "What are you doing? It's freezing down here. Did you forget to put the heat on or something?"

"It's not my job to put the heat on." Spencer frowned, still staring into the empty cupboard. "I thought you did that."

"No, I thought _you_ did it. It's been freezing down here for the past four…oh." Emily sighed, realization hitting her. "Paige always puts the heat on when it's too cold to go without it."

"Oh."

Emily shivered slightly against the cold. "There must be a window open down here or something, it's never this cold mid-autumn." She pressed close to Spencer and curled her arms around her waist, hugging her from behind. "You're freezing."

Spencer barely hummed in response, her eyes carefully scanning the cupboard for something.

"What are you looking for?" Emily asked, resting her chin on Spencer's shoulder. "Maybe I can help."

"I'm looking for my coffee. I can't find it."

"The coffee is right in front of you." Emily stated, confused by Spencer's inability to see what she was looking for. "I can see it from here."

"Not that coffee, I mean my Brazilian roast rich blend." Spencer corrected dejectedly. "Did you forget to buy it when you went to the store?"

"I don't even know what you're talking about." Emily muttered, tightening her grip on Spencer. It really was cold in the house and all she wanted to do was crawl back into bed with Spencer. "I only ever buy that coffee." She motioned to the coffee in the cupboard without releasing her hold.

"Well I don't buy it myself, you always just _have_ it."

"Paige." Emily explained simply. She sighed softly and pressed a light kiss to Spencer's neck. It had only been three days since Paige had left to look at colleges and it already felt like it had been weeks.

Spencer groaned softly, leaning back into Emily's embrace. "Since when did we come to depend on Paige so much?" feeling Emily shrug she frowned at the empty cupboard. "She's only been gone for a week and I miss her already."

Emily chose not to tell Spencer that it had been three days rather than a week. Instead she hummed in agreement and lightly nuzzled her neck. "Come back to bed? We can put the heat on now so it's warm when we get up in an hour or so."

Spencer hesitated for a moment before she gave a reluctant nod of her head.

XXX

_2 days later_

"Spencer, where are my keys?" Emily yelled as she frantically searched for through her jacket pockets for her keys. She could have sworn she brought them home with her last night, she distinctly remembered unlocking the front door because she'd almost dropped her keys in the process. She'd definitely had them with her.

"What did you say?" Spencer's voice sounded as she appeared at the top of the stairs, wrapped in a bath towel. Her hair was clearly wet, informing Emily that she had just gotten out of the shower.

"My keys," Emily repeated, looking up the stairs at Spencer. "Did you move them?"

"Why would I move your keys?" Spencer asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Did you check your bag?"

"Yes."

"Your pockets?"

"Yes!" Emily exclaimed irritably, turning her pockets out again. Nothing. There was no sign of her keys anywhere.

"Well where do you usually put them?" Spencer questioned impatiently.

"I usually put them down anywhere when I walk into the house and then Paige…" Emily trailed off, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "Paige always picks them up and then gives them to me when I'm looking for them."

Spencer sighed, pushing her damp hair away from her face. "Have you looked on the coffee table?"

"No but I walked past it a second ago and I didn't see them."

"What about the counter in the kitchen?"

Emily opened her mouth to say yes but she promptly closed it again. She hadn't even checked the kitchen yet. Without a word she walked in that direction. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found her keys sitting on the counter. She quickly picked them up before hurrying out of the kitchen.

"I found them!" she called up the stairs to Spencer, who was still waiting at the top. She quickly bustled towards the front door, "I'll see you when I get back later. You have one of the spare keys don't you?"

"Yeah, I have it."

"Okay, I love you!" Emily called as she opened the front door. She barely heard the 'I love you too' called back to her before she shut the front door and hurried towards the car. She unlocked it and got in, tossing her bag onto the passenger seat. She was already running late so she didn't want to dawdle. She slipped the key into the ignition and turned it, expecting the car to start. It rumbled to life and Emily reached for her seatbelt only to spot a flashing light on her dashboard.

"No, no, no, no…" Emily muttered, leaning forward slightly. As expected she found that the light was to inform her that she was out of gas. "Damn it!" Emily groaned irritably, her forehead coming to rest on the steering wheel. Paige always topped up the gas when she used the car so Emily had gotten out of the habit of filling it up herself. Sighing softly to herself Emily sat up straight and turned off the car, taking her keys from the ignition. She grabbed her bag and opened the car door. She would just have to catch a ride with Spencer and put up with being almost an hour late.

XXX

"When is Paige coming back?" was the first thing Hanna asked when Emily opened the door.

"Hello to you too Hanna," Emily greeted as she stepped to the side to allow Hanna to pass. Aria followed her inside and Emily gave her a small smile. "Hey."

"So?" Hanna asked impatiently as Emily closed the door. "When is she going to be back?"

"Next Thursday…why?"

Hanna groaned and walked into the living room where she plopped down on the couch next to Spencer who shot her a sullen glare.

"What?" Hanna asked defensively, "I didn't even say anything yet."

Spencer narrowed her eyes at Hanna before she turned her gaze back to the textbook she was unnecessarily reading.

"Why did you want Paige?" Emily asked, walking into the living room with Aria. She frowned at the fact that Hanna had taken her seat but she didn't say anything. She nudged Spencer's arm off the arm of the couch and took a seat there. Spencer briefly glanced up at Emily before resting her arm on Emily's lap instead.

"It's Saturday." Hanna pointed out as if the answer were obvious. "Paige always comes shopping with me on Saturdays, remember?"

"And she always comes over to my house around this time." Aria contributed, looking just as unhappy as Hanna. "I have nobody to watch my movies with. Hanna won't watch them because she says they're too old."

"They are too old, they're older than _you_." Hanna retorted distastefully. "If Paige was here she'd agreed with me."

Aria opened her mouth to point out that Paige liked the movies just as much as she did but Spencer cut her off.

"Well Paige _isn't_ here so deal with it." Spencer huffed irritably without looking up from her text book.

"What's your problem?" Hanna asked, narrowing her eyes at her moody friend.

"She just misses Paige, it's nothing." Emily said, running a soothing hand over Spencer's tense back. Being without Paige for such an unusually long time was taking its toll on Spencer though she would obviously never admit that, even to Emily.

Spencer relaxed ever so slightly, leaning into Emily's touch.

"You guys can stay here tonight if you want." Emily suggested quietly, moving her hand up to give Spencer's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "My mom is still away visiting my dad, she won't be back for another few weeks."

"Hasn't she been gone for a month already?" Hanna asked sceptically.

"Yeah," Emily answered nonchalantly. "She said that she has to trust me to be on my own eventually since I'll be going off to college soon anyway. That's why Paige and Spencer temporarily moved in, remember?"

Hanna nodded in response though she honestly _didn't_ remember, she'd just accepted that Emily's mom was away for a while and Spencer and Paige were now living with Emily.

"I brought my movies." Aria stated excitedly, sliding into the free seat next to Hanna. "I was meant to watch them with Paige but since she isn't here I don't think she'll mind. She doesn't really like these ones anyway. I remember her telling me a while ago."

Emily rolled her eyes at Aria's rambling. "I'll make popcorn I guess."

Hanna sighed, settled back against the couch for what was sure to be a boring few hours. "The sooner Paige gets back the better, today has sucked."

A dark look crossed Spencer's face and she opened her mouth to tell Hanna that she had no idea what she was talking about but Emily quickly interrupted her. "Spence, can you help me in the kitchen please?"

Spencer hesitated for a moment before giving a small nod. She closed her book and stood up, placing it on the coffee table before she followed Emily into the kitchen.

When Emily was sure that they were far enough into the kitchen that Hanna and Aria wouldn't be able to hear she turned around to face Spencer. "Spence…this isn't their fault. They miss her too."

"I know." Spencer muttered, looking more upset that she had in the living room if that was at all possible. She sighed and ran a hand over her forehead in exasperation. "I know it's not, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at them."

"I know." Emily stepped forward and curled her arms around Spencer, hugging her tightly. "It's going to be fine."

Spencer released a shuddering breath against Emily's shoulder and nodded her head. "It's not like she's not coming back eventually right?"

"She'll be back next Thursday." Emily said, trying to calm the constant worry she felt. "And she'll probably call or text us tonight to tell us she's okay."

"Probably?"

"Definitely," Emily smiled softly at the concern in Spencer's voice and pulled back, giving her a reassuring kiss. "She'll definitely call."

"Are you guys making out in there or something?" Hanna yelled from the living room, "Because I want to get these movies over with."

Spencer smirked, resting her forehead lightly against Emily's. "We better get back out there."

"In a minute," Emily responded softly. "I have to make the popcorn anyway."

"I'll help you." Spencer offered quickly, though she made no move to dislodge herself from Emily's embrace, "In a minute."

XXX

Emily was flicking idly through TV channels a few nights later, a half-eaten cherry twizzler hanging from her mouth when she heard the sound of a key turning in the front door. She looked up sharply, her eyes shifting to the entrance to the living room. Spencer was still upstairs in their room and Emily hadn't heard her come down yet so she couldn't have gone out.

Standing up from the couch Emily tossed the twizzler onto the coffee table and quickly crossed the living room. She peeked around the doorway in time to see someone step into the house, closing the door behind them.

"Paige!" Emily exclaimed in surprise. She hadn't expected to see Paige for another four days at the earliest. She hurried towards the other girl and Paige barely managed to drop her bags to the floor into time to catch Emily in a firm embrace. "God, I missed you so much."

Paige smiled to herself, tightening her grip on Emily. After being away for over a week it felt good just to touch her again, to hold her close. Emily pulled back slightly and cupped Paige's face, giving her rapid kisses. "I'm so…glad…you're back."

Paige chuckled at the enthusiastic greeting but her own chest felt ready to burst with happiness at the fact that she was back home. "I missed you too Em." She gave Emily another quick kiss before glancing around. "Is Spencer not home?"

"She's upstairs, probably moping." Emily said with a roll of her eyes as she pulled back slightly. "She's trying not to be obvious about how tough the past week has been on her."

"I hope you're not talking about me." Spencer called down the stairs. "I'm not moping, I just have…Paige!"

Emily and Paige looked up the stairs in time to see Spencer barrel down them so quickly that they both momentarily feared that she might trip and roll the rest of the way down. Spencer managed to get down the stairs without incident however and rushed towards Paige, hugging her tightly.

"You're back!" Spencer exclaimed, practically lifting Paige off the ground in her excitement. Paige laughed at Spencer's unusual exuberance while Emily merely grinned knowingly to herself. "What are you doing back? I thought you didn't get back until Thursday."

Paige shrugged sheepishly. "I missed you both so I decided to skip the rest of the colleges and come back early."

Spencer pulled back slightly only to give Paige a firm kiss. "We missed you like crazy, you have no idea."

Paige chuckled to herself. "I think I do."

"No really, you don't." Emily disagreed with a shake of her head. "We _really_ missed you."

Paige looked confused by Emily's response. "What does that mean?"

"It means we realized something while you were away." Spencer spoke quietly, a hint of guilt lacing her tone. "When you're here we take you for granted."

Emily nodded in agreement while Paige just looked confused. "We didn't notice everything you do for us until you weren't here. So we're going to make it up to you."

"You don't need to make anything up to you, you didn't do anything wrong."

"No, Paige…" Spencer moved her hands to Paige's chest and slowly pushed up, easing her jacket from her shoulders. It fell to the floor behind her and Spencer stared at Paige with a heated look in her eyes. "We're going to _make it up to you_."

"Oh…oh!" Paige glanced between Spencer and Emily, a grin tugging at her lips. "I see."

Emily laughed softly at Paige's initial obliviousness and she moved forward, taking her right hand in her own. "I don't think we should be wasting time either, right Spence?"

"Right," Spencer smirked, taking a small step back towards the stairs. "There's no time like the present."

THE END.


End file.
